I'm a bad Project Runway fan.
Jul. 25th, 2011 11:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
apocalypsosI only just realized yesterday that I had no clue who the new Project Runway contestants are and it's only four days until the premiere of this season. So off to Lifetime to see their portfolios!
First off, I like the set-up they've got this year on the website, where they give you tidbits like their dream clients, the music they listen to while designing, favorite past contestants, and favorite fabrics and colors. It gives you a sense of their style before you even look at their collection.
Secondly, before I even look through all of the portfolios (I've looked through a few before I started typing this, but not all of them), I can safely say that I'm liking a bit more than I did before the gimmick where they're going to eliminate four designers in the first episode. There has been a designer or two I could easily see getting removed in the first episode who's still pretty decent. Even the first rejects get some exposure that way.
Amanda -- The dress she's wearing in her promo photo is very cute, and I almost wish she'd included it in her portfolio since I'm guessing she designed it. (The fabric-striping thing she's got going on it is on a dress or two in her portfolio.) That said, most of her designers are artwork rather than actual pieces, although both seem to be nice. Neither seem to set me on fire, although there is a photo of a male model in a rather pedestrian T-shirt and jeans, so I'm going to assume that wasn't a mistake and she actually designed those, in which case it's nice to see that she can design for guys. Sort of.
Anthony -- First off, one of his models looks exactly like Kate Middleton. It was adorable. Aside from that, it's very ... earthy, I guess you could say. Like if Christian Siriano saw Gretchen's collection and said, "Pfft, I can do the dirty hippie thing, too!" There's a lot of feathers -- one particular dress that looks like something Laura Bennett made that was dive-bombed by a hawk on the runway -- but everything's very well-designed.
Anya -- According to her personal photos, Anya was Miss Trinidad. That's cool! Also cool is her portfolio, which makes me miss Korto like burning. It's very heavy on these gorgeous African prints. I'm a bit worried that she may lean heavier on the prints than she does on actual designing, but there isn't a single thing in her portfolio that I wouldn't snap up in a heartbeat. Lovely stuff.
Becky -- Becky is my favorite so far. The designs in her portfolio are very funky-WWII-WAC-member, and the styling's lovely. I'm also impressed that she enclosed two pieces which showcase that she can work with unconventional materials -- one is this cute little halter dress made out of cigarette labels and another is a great dress made out of these long colorful ropes that look like what they make potholder loops out of.
Bert -- Bert's the resident older contestant, and it may show. It's kind of hard to muck out, since the vast majority of his portfolio is his artwork paired with cloth samples. They're not bad choices, mind you, it's just a bit vague considering how many other contestants have full portfolios with genuine pieces in it. The few pieces he has, though, are nice. Simple but nice.
Harold Lauder Bryce -- It's just his face that made me think of Harold Lauder, I swear. Also, his style icon, dream client, and musician he likes to listen to when he designs are all Lady Gaga. For fuck's sake. *headsmack* Then again, his portfolio seems to support his desires. There's even a nice see-through bra I'm sure she can wear with tape over her nipples. Meh.
Cecilia -- Listens to Nirvana and Adele when she design, her dream client is Ellen Degeneres ... she's self-taught. *crosses fingers before peeking at her portfolio* ... hmm. The designs themselves are actually pretty interesting. The fabrics are simple, so the details are easier to see. I worry about the fit, and these are in pieces she had plenty of time to fit, so I wonder if she'll be able to fit well given a time limit. Also, her styling seems to involve bedhead. I want to like her, but I suspect given her portfolio she may be one of the first gone. We'll see.
Danielle -- First off, there's a childhood photo of her in her personal photo section that shows she was painfully adorable. Second of all, she went to art school, which could be really interesting or really terrible. Third of all, her portfolio -- AWESOME. Think modern-day Annie Hall. It's a lot of great separates and pants and vests and things. I love seeing a collection by someone who can apparently do things other than design dress after dress. You feel like you could own every piece in it and make about a BILLION different outfits out of them. And she's obviously wearing a very cute outfit of her own design in her promo photo.
David -- Well, he's self-taught, and it's always safe to be a bit hesitant with the self-taught designers. The good -- for the most part, his designs are lovely. There's a lot of streamlined pencil skirts and cute preppy little dresses. There's a couple of dresses that I'd definitely buy off the rack. The bad -- I worry because his portfolio makes it look like he may have learned a few design tricks and went with them. There's a LOT of things that seem like the same dress over and over again. This is coming after Danielle, who obviously has a style she's latched onto and yet every piece looks unique. Some of David's pieces look like they were cut off the same pattern in a different fabric, and that's it. That might just be me, though.
Fallene -- She's self-taught (what is it with all these self-taught people?) and everything about her inspirations page screams "cutesy and quirky." As for her portfolio, there's some cute modern dresses in there, but I think her strongest pieces are a series of '20s-esque outfits modeled by a couple of woman who look adorably like what's-her-face from A River Runs Through It. Also, her sketches are too cute.
Gunnar Deatherson -- HIS NAME IS GUNNAR DEATHERSON. AND HE'S WEARING SUNGLASSES. Now you have to figure out whether or not he's self-educated or not. (He is. Duh.) That said, his portfolio is impressive. I really like the skirt on his first dress, which is this sort of pleated colorblocked bubble skirt. I'm a tad turned off by his styling -- really tight ponytails on the top of the model's head seems to be a thing -- but his actual designs look really great.
Joshua Christensen (oh, damn, there's two Joshuas) -- First off, he listens to K-pop. Secondly, he likes Seth Aaron and Christian and dreams of designing for David Beckham. His dream client is a guy? Man, I hope his portfolio is good. Aaaaaaand ... oh, somebody's been designing for men up until now, huh? Okay, that's unfair. There are women in his portfolio, and their outfits are all lovely, but it IS half male models. His designs are great, though. Hopefully he can maintain the same precise tailoring with the short time limits he'll have on the show.
Joshua McKinley -- ... meh. First off, half of his portfolio is him modeling tank tops. The other half is pictures of the same model in three dresses I'm not sure I'd ever wear and a drawing of dresses I wished he'd made for his portfolio instead.
Julie -- I was a bit hesitant given her inspirations page -- like Madonna as a style icon, listens to Metallica while designing -- but her portfolio's really intriguing. Think Jay's collection in season one as done by Kara from season two in fleece and flannels. It's colorful and intricate in a fun way.
Kimberly -- I love how it says her favorite colors are pink and gold, aaaaand she's wearing them in her promo photo. As for her portfolio, it's quite lovely as a whole, but it also leans heavily on the shoulder poofs. Which isn't a bad thing -- it's not like they're UGLY shoulder poofs -- but still.
Laura -- Is there NO ONE on this season who doesn't listen to Adele while they're designing? Anyway. Her style appears to be ... hmm. I can't really describe it. Not because it's weird, but because it seems to be cute little dresses that don't seem to link up, at least to me. They're good, they just seem disconnected to me.
Olivier -- His favorite colors are beige and gray, and it shows. Not in a bad way, though. His designs are intriguing enough to make me want to see more, at least. That said, another guy who's obviously been designing for men.
Rafael -- Oh, good, another one who likes ponytails at the top of a model's head. (OW, that shit hurts.) He listed Christian and Seth Aaron as his favorite past contestants, but I keep thinking of Andy (was he last season or the season before? I'm blanking) when I look at his collection. Okay, and Christian's SJP outfit, which was hideous.
Serena -- Okay, she's got Arcade Fire, Astor Piazzola, and Sol Seppy as her designing soundtrack and Marion Cotillard as her style icon. Hmm. I expected something a LITTLE quirkier. Still, lovely work. I like the little strappy dress with the V-back.
Viktor -- Okay, so apparently when you click on the link to his portfolio, it diverts back to the main page. Bummer, because the dress you CAN see is quite lovely.
And as for Find The Straight Guy this season -- oh, my God, it's SO HARD. There isn't a single one not pinging my gaydar like they're banging on a gong. Oh, pleeeeease can we have a straight-free show this season? The straight guys always seem to go overboard with the, "I LIKE FOOTBALL AND OTHER SPORTS AND MOTORCYCLES AND ALSO HAVING SEX WITH LADIES. I LOVE ALL THE HOT MODELS WE HAVE -- OH, EXCEPT WHEN WE HAVE MALE MODELS. THEN THE OTHER GUYS ARE SWOONING ALL OVER THEM. YES, THE OTHER MALE DESIGNERS. NOT ME. NO, SIRREE. *I* LIKE BOOBS!"
First off, I like the set-up they've got this year on the website, where they give you tidbits like their dream clients, the music they listen to while designing, favorite past contestants, and favorite fabrics and colors. It gives you a sense of their style before you even look at their collection.
Secondly, before I even look through all of the portfolios (I've looked through a few before I started typing this, but not all of them), I can safely say that I'm liking a bit more than I did before the gimmick where they're going to eliminate four designers in the first episode. There has been a designer or two I could easily see getting removed in the first episode who's still pretty decent. Even the first rejects get some exposure that way.
Amanda -- The dress she's wearing in her promo photo is very cute, and I almost wish she'd included it in her portfolio since I'm guessing she designed it. (The fabric-striping thing she's got going on it is on a dress or two in her portfolio.) That said, most of her designers are artwork rather than actual pieces, although both seem to be nice. Neither seem to set me on fire, although there is a photo of a male model in a rather pedestrian T-shirt and jeans, so I'm going to assume that wasn't a mistake and she actually designed those, in which case it's nice to see that she can design for guys. Sort of.
Anthony -- First off, one of his models looks exactly like Kate Middleton. It was adorable. Aside from that, it's very ... earthy, I guess you could say. Like if Christian Siriano saw Gretchen's collection and said, "Pfft, I can do the dirty hippie thing, too!" There's a lot of feathers -- one particular dress that looks like something Laura Bennett made that was dive-bombed by a hawk on the runway -- but everything's very well-designed.
Anya -- According to her personal photos, Anya was Miss Trinidad. That's cool! Also cool is her portfolio, which makes me miss Korto like burning. It's very heavy on these gorgeous African prints. I'm a bit worried that she may lean heavier on the prints than she does on actual designing, but there isn't a single thing in her portfolio that I wouldn't snap up in a heartbeat. Lovely stuff.
Becky -- Becky is my favorite so far. The designs in her portfolio are very funky-WWII-WAC-member, and the styling's lovely. I'm also impressed that she enclosed two pieces which showcase that she can work with unconventional materials -- one is this cute little halter dress made out of cigarette labels and another is a great dress made out of these long colorful ropes that look like what they make potholder loops out of.
Bert -- Bert's the resident older contestant, and it may show. It's kind of hard to muck out, since the vast majority of his portfolio is his artwork paired with cloth samples. They're not bad choices, mind you, it's just a bit vague considering how many other contestants have full portfolios with genuine pieces in it. The few pieces he has, though, are nice. Simple but nice.
Cecilia -- Listens to Nirvana and Adele when she design, her dream client is Ellen Degeneres ... she's self-taught. *crosses fingers before peeking at her portfolio* ... hmm. The designs themselves are actually pretty interesting. The fabrics are simple, so the details are easier to see. I worry about the fit, and these are in pieces she had plenty of time to fit, so I wonder if she'll be able to fit well given a time limit. Also, her styling seems to involve bedhead. I want to like her, but I suspect given her portfolio she may be one of the first gone. We'll see.
Danielle -- First off, there's a childhood photo of her in her personal photo section that shows she was painfully adorable. Second of all, she went to art school, which could be really interesting or really terrible. Third of all, her portfolio -- AWESOME. Think modern-day Annie Hall. It's a lot of great separates and pants and vests and things. I love seeing a collection by someone who can apparently do things other than design dress after dress. You feel like you could own every piece in it and make about a BILLION different outfits out of them. And she's obviously wearing a very cute outfit of her own design in her promo photo.
David -- Well, he's self-taught, and it's always safe to be a bit hesitant with the self-taught designers. The good -- for the most part, his designs are lovely. There's a lot of streamlined pencil skirts and cute preppy little dresses. There's a couple of dresses that I'd definitely buy off the rack. The bad -- I worry because his portfolio makes it look like he may have learned a few design tricks and went with them. There's a LOT of things that seem like the same dress over and over again. This is coming after Danielle, who obviously has a style she's latched onto and yet every piece looks unique. Some of David's pieces look like they were cut off the same pattern in a different fabric, and that's it. That might just be me, though.
Fallene -- She's self-taught (what is it with all these self-taught people?) and everything about her inspirations page screams "cutesy and quirky." As for her portfolio, there's some cute modern dresses in there, but I think her strongest pieces are a series of '20s-esque outfits modeled by a couple of woman who look adorably like what's-her-face from A River Runs Through It. Also, her sketches are too cute.
Gunnar Deatherson -- HIS NAME IS GUNNAR DEATHERSON. AND HE'S WEARING SUNGLASSES. Now you have to figure out whether or not he's self-educated or not. (He is. Duh.) That said, his portfolio is impressive. I really like the skirt on his first dress, which is this sort of pleated colorblocked bubble skirt. I'm a tad turned off by his styling -- really tight ponytails on the top of the model's head seems to be a thing -- but his actual designs look really great.
Joshua Christensen (oh, damn, there's two Joshuas) -- First off, he listens to K-pop. Secondly, he likes Seth Aaron and Christian and dreams of designing for David Beckham. His dream client is a guy? Man, I hope his portfolio is good. Aaaaaaand ... oh, somebody's been designing for men up until now, huh? Okay, that's unfair. There are women in his portfolio, and their outfits are all lovely, but it IS half male models. His designs are great, though. Hopefully he can maintain the same precise tailoring with the short time limits he'll have on the show.
Joshua McKinley -- ... meh. First off, half of his portfolio is him modeling tank tops. The other half is pictures of the same model in three dresses I'm not sure I'd ever wear and a drawing of dresses I wished he'd made for his portfolio instead.
Julie -- I was a bit hesitant given her inspirations page -- like Madonna as a style icon, listens to Metallica while designing -- but her portfolio's really intriguing. Think Jay's collection in season one as done by Kara from season two in fleece and flannels. It's colorful and intricate in a fun way.
Kimberly -- I love how it says her favorite colors are pink and gold, aaaaand she's wearing them in her promo photo. As for her portfolio, it's quite lovely as a whole, but it also leans heavily on the shoulder poofs. Which isn't a bad thing -- it's not like they're UGLY shoulder poofs -- but still.
Laura -- Is there NO ONE on this season who doesn't listen to Adele while they're designing? Anyway. Her style appears to be ... hmm. I can't really describe it. Not because it's weird, but because it seems to be cute little dresses that don't seem to link up, at least to me. They're good, they just seem disconnected to me.
Olivier -- His favorite colors are beige and gray, and it shows. Not in a bad way, though. His designs are intriguing enough to make me want to see more, at least. That said, another guy who's obviously been designing for men.
Rafael -- Oh, good, another one who likes ponytails at the top of a model's head. (OW, that shit hurts.) He listed Christian and Seth Aaron as his favorite past contestants, but I keep thinking of Andy (was he last season or the season before? I'm blanking) when I look at his collection. Okay, and Christian's SJP outfit, which was hideous.
Serena -- Okay, she's got Arcade Fire, Astor Piazzola, and Sol Seppy as her designing soundtrack and Marion Cotillard as her style icon. Hmm. I expected something a LITTLE quirkier. Still, lovely work. I like the little strappy dress with the V-back.
Viktor -- Okay, so apparently when you click on the link to his portfolio, it diverts back to the main page. Bummer, because the dress you CAN see is quite lovely.
And as for Find The Straight Guy this season -- oh, my God, it's SO HARD. There isn't a single one not pinging my gaydar like they're banging on a gong. Oh, pleeeeease can we have a straight-free show this season? The straight guys always seem to go overboard with the, "I LIKE FOOTBALL AND OTHER SPORTS AND MOTORCYCLES AND ALSO HAVING SEX WITH LADIES. I LOVE ALL THE HOT MODELS WE HAVE -- OH, EXCEPT WHEN WE HAVE MALE MODELS. THEN THE OTHER GUYS ARE SWOONING ALL OVER THEM. YES, THE OTHER MALE DESIGNERS. NOT ME. NO, SIRREE. *I* LIKE BOOBS!"
